Method for manufacturing business forms



Oct. 27, 1964 E. c. POLLARD 3,154,305

METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING BUSINESS FORMS Filed Aug. 16, 1962 uvmvron EDWARD C-POLLA RD- av /2229i?? United States Patent 3,154,395 METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING BUSINESS FORMS Edward C. Pollard, 409 Lincoln, Santa Monica, Calif. Filed Aug. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 217,500 2 (Ii-aims. (El. 27(9-1) This invention relates to an improved method and product for manufacturing business forms of the type comprising a plurality of sheets of paper with sheets of carbon paper successively sandwiched therebetween.

Most business forms such as purchase orders, sales slips, and the like are made up of three or more sheets with carbon paper sandwiched therebetween so that duplicate copies are automatically made at the time the original is filled out. Generally, the various sheets with the carbons are glued along one edge. Slightly below the glue line, the sheets are partially perforated to facilitate separating the same after they have been filled out. Further, the carbons are generally shorter than the sheets so that they may readily be separated from the sheets after the original has been filled out.

In manufacturing business forms of the above type, the various sheets themselves are individually passed through a printing press so that the desired printed matter in identical form is printed on one side of each of the sheets. These sheets are then alternately stacked with properly cut carbon paper so that a person will first select one printed sheet, place a carbon thereover, then select a second printed sheet, place a carbon thereover, and so forth until a desired number of sheets has been provided. One edge of all of the sheets is then glued together so that the assembled form may be shipped as a complete set.

In the case of duplicate forms having printed matter including guide lines or rulings, it is very important that the respective sheets be properly aligned so that writing on the original will appear in the same position relative to the guide lines or rulings on the duplicate copies. It is thus necessary that the person assembling the various printed sheets with the carbon paper exercise a certain degree of skill in order to assure proper alignment prior to gluing the forms together. This degree of skill as well as the individual sandwiching in of the various carbon sheets necessarily involved a certain amount of time which contributes to the cost of such forms.

With the foregoing in mind, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved method and product for manufacturing business forms in which proper duplicate forms with carbon paper sandwiched therebetween may be provided for less cost than required heretofore.

More particularly, it is an object to provide an improved method and product for manufacturing business forms in which the actual number of steps required to be performed by a person in assembling the forms is reduced and the required degree of skill to assure alignment of the forms is also decreased to the end that the forms may be more quickly assembled, with less care, but without sacrificing accuracy.

Briefly, these and other objects and advantages of this invention are attained by providing the forms in a sub-set form with carbon paper already disposed therebetween. Each of the sets includes two sheets of paper with two sheets of carbon paper in face-to-face engagement between the two sheets. This sub-set of four sheets is then glued along one edge. This assembly of a sub-set may be carried out by automatic machinery. Printing is then effected on the exterior or top surfaces of each of the outer sheets, this printing not being passed to the back sides of the sheets as a consequence of the carbon paper being in faceto-face engagement. After the exterior sides of the two sheets have been passed through the printing press, the

3,154,305 Patented Oct. 27, 1964 two sheets may be separated with their respective carbons and then one sheet with its associated carbon inverted and placed on top of the other sheet. A third sheet may then be added under the carbon attached to the other of the two sheets to provide a completed set. If more than three duplicate copies are required, the same process may be repeated with other sub-sets and then the respective subsets assembled and a last sheet added to provide as many duplicates as desired.

By the foregoing arrangement, it is possible to assemble pairs of sheets at a time rather than single sheets with carbons disposed therebetween to the end that the assembly time for manufacturing the business forms is greatly reduced. Further, because of the pre-assembly of the faceto-face carbons between two sheets, proper alignment can be assured, and there is minimized the number of times the sheets must be manually handled, thus minimizing the risk of misalignment, inverted carbons, and so forth.

A better understanding of the invention will be had by now referring to the preferred method as outlined in conjunction with the attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view illustrating a pair of sheets with two sheets of carbons disposed therebetween in pre-assembled form in accordance with a first step of the method;

FIGURE 2 is another perspective view illustrating the various sheets in condition immediately subsequent to printing given printed matter thereon in accordance with the method;

FIGURE 3 illustrates a further step in the method; and,

FTGURE 4 illustrates final assembly steps in carrying out the method of the invention.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, there are shown successively a first sheet 10, a sheet of carbon paper 11, another sheet of carbon paper 12, and a second sheet 13. The top or exterior sides of the sheets 10 and 13 upon which printing is to be received are designated 10a and 13a, respectively. The bottoms or opposed sides of these sheets are designated 10b and 13b, respectively. The backs of the carbon sheets 11 and 12 similarly are designated 11a, and 12a and the front or faces of the carbons upon which the carbon ink appears are designated 11b and 12b.

The respective carbon sheets 11 and 12 are glued to the two sheets 16 and 13, respectively, as at 14 and 15 continuously across the top of the sheet over a considerable width W. The sheets as well as the carbons are all glued together over a distance d as indicated at 16 so that they may be folded down fiat together to form a first assembled sub-set as shown in FIGURE 2. The small distance d over which the gluing of all of the sheets takes place is less than the distance W to which the backs of the carbons 11 and 12 are respectively glued to the under sides of the sheets 16 and 13. It is to be understood that the carbons assembled in face-to-face relationship and sandwiched between the pairs of sheets such as 10 and 13 and properly glued thereto with the entire assembly of sheets all glued together as at 16 may be provided by a machining operation so that they may constitute a preassembled structure.

With many of these pre-assembled structures as illustrated in FIGURE 2 available, each is then passed into a printing press with the upper edge 17 of the glued portion 16 urged against a suitable stop. The sheets are preperforated as at 18 to facilitate subsequent separation. Printed matter such as indicated at 19 is printed first on the top surface 10a of the sheet 10. The entire sub-set is then turned over and the same or modified printed matter then printed on the top surface 13a of the sheet 13 as indicated by the numeral 19'.

After the printing has been done on the exterior sides of the sheets and 13, respectively, the glued edge 16 is then severed as illustrated in FIGURE 3. Since the distance d of the glued edge that is severed is less than the width W of the gluing of-the carbons to the sheets, the carbons will be retained to the respective sheets over the glued areas 14 and as shown in FIGURE 3 while the sheets with their respective carbons may be separated.

FIGURE 4 illustrates the sheets separated wherein the bottomrsheet 13 and. carbon 12 have been turned over so that the printing 19' is exposed and the sheet 13 now appears on top of the carbon 12. The upper sheet 10 and carbon 11 may then be placed on top of the second sheet so thatthe bottom 11b of the carbon 11 engages the top printed surface 13a of the other sheet 13. It will be clear that the proper side of the carbon paper is positioned so that impressions on the top sheet 10a will be carried through to the second sheet surface 13a by the carbon paper 11. Theparticular sub-set is completed by a third or last sheet which is ordinarily made of an overall length corresponding to the length of the sheets 10 and 13 prior to severing of the glued edges 16. With this arrangement, the edge 21 of the third sheet 20 may abut against the same printing press stop as the edge 17 of the sheets 10 and;13 so that no adjustments need be made on the printing press and proper alignment of the printed matter as indicated at 19" on the third .or last sheet 20 is assured. The assembly of the various sheets illustrated in FIGURE 4 is-then effected by aligning the bottom edges of the sheets with the bottom edge of the sheet 20. .The

small distance d at the top end of the last sheet 20 may a then be severed and the edges glued together.

The under .side-of the top edge of the last sheet 20 may be treated to repel gluing action so that a number of complete sets may be stacked and glued simultaneously and the sets later separated. An identical process is repeated for other sets of two sheets and a last or third sheet then added as described so that several sub-sets may ultimately be packaged together to provide a plurality of duplicate forms forming a complete set. a

From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention has provided an improved method and product for manufacturing business forms. Thus, in this improved method, certain of the steps such as providing carbon paper already attached to sheets upon which printing is to take place can be effected by a machine prior to manual assembly. This is only possible as a consequence of the novel product in which carbons are placed in face-to-face engagement so that printing on opposite exposed sides of the sheets will not be carried through to the back of the other sheets. Thus, individual assembly of each of the individual carbons between individual sheets is avoided and the time involved in the process of manually assembling the business forms is greatly expedited.

Minor alterations in the various method steps falling clearly within the scope and spirit of this invention will occur to those skilled in the art. The methods and prodnot are therefore not to be thought of as limited to the exact description set forth merely for illustrative purposes. a

What is claimed is:

l. A method of manufacturing business forms including at least three sheets with carbon paper sandwiched between successive sheets, comprising the steps of: assembling two sheets with two carbons in face-to-face engagement sandwiched therebetween, the backs of said carbons including portions glued to said sheets respectively, said two sheets being glued together at adjacent edges over a width less than the width ofgluing of said carbons to said sheets to hold them in their initially as sembled form; printing printed matter successively on the exterior sides of'said sheets while assembled; severing said glued edges and, separating said two sheets with their respective carbons; and overturning one of said two sheets and its carbon and placing the same with its carbon on top of the exterior surface of the other of said two sheets; adding a last sheet under the carbon associated with said other of said two sheets, said last sheet initially being of the same length as said two sheets prior to severing the same so that said printed matter on said last sheet is in the same position as it appears on said two sheets; and gluing the edges of said sheets together.

2. A method of manufacturing business forms of the type including a plurality of sheets having duplicated printed matter on their top sides and carbon paper sandwiched between successive'sheets comprising the steps of: assembling two of said sheets at a time with their bottom sides facing each other in opposed relationship and with two carbons in face-to-face engagement between said bottom sides, the backs of said carbons having portions of given width respectively glued to the bottom the width of said gluing being less than said given width; printing said printed matter on the top side of one of said two sheets while in assembled form; overturning the assembled forms as a unit and printing said printed matter on the top side of the other of said two sheets; cutting ofi the edge portions of said sheets and carbons over which said gluing extends; separating said two sheets and their respective carbons; turning over one of said sheets with its carbon and positioning the face of its carbon on top of the top surface of the other of said two sheets to provide a set of two sheets with one carbon sandwiched therebetween and the other carbon secured to the bottom of said other of said two sheets; repeating all of said steps a number of times to provide additional sets; positioning said sets one on top of another; printing said printed matter on a last sheet having a length corresponding to said sheets prior to cutting of said edge portions; positioning said last sheet under the carbon paper on the bottom of the last sheet of the last set of sheets; severing the edges of all of said sheets to render them all of the same length; and gluing said sheets together along said edges to provide said business forms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 640,447 Corbin Jan. 2, 1900 1,943,264 Snyder Jan. 8, 1934 2,588,572 Potteiger Mar. 11, 1952 

1. A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BUSINESS FORMS INCLUDING AT LEAST THREE SHEETS WITH CARBON PAPER SANDWICHED BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE SHEETS, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF: ASSEMBLING TWO SHEETS WITH TWO CARBONS IN FACE-TO-FACE ENGAGEMENT SANDWICHED THEREBETWEEN, THE BACKS OF SAID CARBONS INCLUDING PORTIONS GLUED TO SAID SHEETS RESPECTIVELY, SAID TWO SHEETS BEING GLUED TOGETHER AT ADJACENT EDGES OVER A WIDTH LESS THAN THE WIDTH OF GLUING OF SAID CARBONS TO SAID SHEETS TO HOLD THEM IN THEIR INITIALLY ASSEMBLED FORM; PRINTING PRINTED MATTER SUCCESSIVELY ON THE EXTERIOR SIDES OF SAID SHEETS WHILE ASSEMBLED; SEVERING 